This gastropod is not only the most dangerous representative family of cones, but also the most poisonous snail in the world. Its scientific name is geographic cone. Habitat - Indo-Pacific region. The mollusk prefers to live in warm waters in shallow water, therefore, it poses a real threat to tourists, who, most likely, are not even aware of its existence.

Armed and very dangerous

The geographic cone is a predator that prefers to hunt small fish, worms. The mollusk has a proboscis-like sting through which it injects a highly toxic venom into its prey. Since the speed of movement of the geographic cone along the ocean floor is too low, it prefers to take a wait-and-see position. As soon as the prey swims or crawls nearby, the mollusk attacks with lightning speed. The victim receives a lethal dose of poison that instantly paralyzes them. The geographic cone swallows its lunch whole.

How can a meeting with a mollusk end?

Unlike most mollusks, which prefer to hide in the shell when meeting with a person, the geographic cone acts quite aggressively, often attacking first. A cone attack can result in a painful bite that feels like a burn. After that, the stung place begins to lighten, and then turn blue. The affected area becomes numb.

Despite its relatively small size (up to 10 centimeters in diameter), the mollusk poses a deadly threat to humans. Over the past decade, the geographic cone has killed more than thirty people. As a rule, death occurs due to drowning. If the stung is in the water away from the coastline, then he simply does not have time to swim to the shore. Nerve poison leads to partial or complete paralysis of the body, and the victim loses the ability to swim.

On the this moment there is no effective antidote that could negate the effect of this poison on the human body. Therefore, there are cases when tourists died after being bitten by a geographic cone while in a hospital bed. To save life, experts recommend making a deep incision at the site of the bite for profuse bloodletting.

Action of the poison

The geographic cone, like other members of this family, produces a poison, the scientific name of which is conotoxin. The first studies of the toxic substance with which the mollusk kills its prey were carried out by the American professor B. Oliver. From his report it becomes clear that conotoxin is a mixture of a huge amount of low molecular weight peptides that contain up to 30 amino acids. Based on this, it can be argued that the effect of the poison of the geographic cone is similar to that of the cobra. It partially or completely blocks the transmission of impulses from nerves to muscles. The victim, struck by the poison of the geographic cone, rapidly develops numbness, after which an agonizing death occurs due to cardiac arrest.

To prevent your vacation from ending up in a hospital bed, experts recommend avoiding any tactile contact with the geographic cone. This mollusk is quite often found in the Red Sea, which washes the shores of Egypt, which is so fond of tourists from Russia.

If you dive under water, for example, in scuba gear, to admire nature underwater world then try not to touch anything. As a rule, the cone burrows into the sand and sits in ambush. As soon as he realizes that you are too close, he will go on the attack and try to sting.

Use of poison in medical forces

Despite the mortal danger of the geographical cone, like many other poisonous representatives of the animal world, it is of great interest to medical and biological specialists. The toxic nerve poison that these mollusks produce can not only cause serious damage to the body, but also be very useful.

The geographic cone produces a poison containing great amount proteins that can be used as an anesthetic. According to recent studies, with the help of these protein compounds, it is possible to selectively act on certain human pain receptors, and the result from their use is several thousand times greater than the effect of morphine. But unlike the latter, geographic cone venom is not addictive.

Same from toxic substance, which is produced by mollusks, scientists have learned how to extract "pure" conotoxins. Based on them, drugs are produced that help people suffering from convulsive seizures to significantly reduce their number.

The first written mention of a geographical cone dates back to 1777. Then the shell of this mollusk was considered the most beautiful, rare and valuable in the world. Collectors were ready to shell out several thousand dollars just to get a precious shell, which became a real gem of any collection.

The situation changed dramatically in the middle of the twentieth century, when scientists explored the entire habitat of the geographical cone. As it turned out, there are a lot of these mollusks in the Indo-Pacific region, and some tribes living on the coast even decorated the walls of their houses with shells. To date, the cost of a cone shell varies within ten dollars, and they can be purchased on popular Internet sites, for example, AliExpress.

Those who first come to the Red Sea are impressed by the abundance of beautiful shells. They can be bought from merchants, found ashore, or seen live snorkeling in coral reefs.
The most common are cones. There are already 550 known species, and at least a dozen new ones are described annually. This is the most collectible and expensive type of shells. They range in size from two to ten to fifteen centimeters. They are found in all oceans and even in the Mediterranean Sea. The fact that almost all cone snails are poisonous has long been known. Their venom is comparable to cobra venom, but much more toxic than it. When bitten, numbness of the body and cardiac arrest quickly develop. There is no antidote, since the poison of the cone consists of more than 50 low molecular weight peptides containing 20-30 amino acids. It acts instantly, the fish is immobilized in 2-3 seconds.

For a person, the bite of any kind of Cone is extremely dangerous. Leading geographic cone- the mortality rate caused by the injection of this mollusk is 70%. The real salvation from death is the method used by the Papuans of New Guinea - profuse bloodletting and heart massage.

Now think about whether it is worth picking up beautiful shells among corals or is it better to limit yourself to observation from the outside.
To such a gloomy description, one should add: of course, it is not every day that a stretcher with victims is taken away from hotels. And cones don't always sting. Two years ago, unknowingly, I collected them with bare hands(photo attached). And of course, it’s not a fact that you will come across a deadly poisonous Geographic cone, but remember - out of ten bitten by it, only three survive. It is a fact.

The sting at the cone is located in the channel of the narrow part of the shell. If you want to be sure to pull it out of the water, take it by the wide part of the sink.
Resting in Egypt, and snorkeling, you will surely see a lot of interesting things under water. Tip - do not touch anything with your hands, it is better to buy an underwater camera. There will be no less impressions, but you will save your health.

Another no less interesting representative of the Red Sea fauna is TRIDACNIDAE - Giant clam. Beautiful shell from 10 to 30 cm, partially or completely grown into the reef, with beautiful turquoise or blue wavy edges.

giant bivalve mollusk - Tridacn.
They look like funny and beautiful scallops, but in fact this is the famous giant killer clam. Specimens weighing 100 - 200 kg are known. The principle of "murder" is simple - the shell is ajar, and inside the pearl shines. You can stick your hand behind it, you can't pull it out. The flaps close quickly and very tightly. Such a trap cannot be unclenched even with a mount. There are cases when divers died in such a trap. The story in which the poor fellow had to cut off his hand in order to free himself and survive is not officially confirmed, but it is quite acceptable. There is other information - when human remains were found in a one and a half meter shell. Given the size and force of compression of the valves, such an outcome is quite possible. This is the oldest and largest bivalve on the ground. On average, its dimensions are: 30 - 40 cm, but there are specimens one and a half - two meters long, and weighing at least half a ton. And they live 200 - 300 years and more.

Cone snails have inspired people for centuries. Communities living near the ocean often exchanged their beautiful shells for money and added them to jewelry. Some artists, including Rembrandt, captured them in sketches and paintings. Recently, scientists at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found these deadly predators also fascinating, as they will help them find new ways to treat long-known medical diseases using snail venom as a base.

“This is the same poison that was used to kill the dinosaurs in the movie Park jurassic", says NIST biochemist Frank Marie. “This is a terrible material, but its strength is in real life can be put to good use."

Like most NIST researchers, Marie puts everything to the test. Namely, when working with marine animals, he studies RNA and proteins associated with it. As the modern technology he and his colleagues got better at analyzing, studying, and catalyzing molecules by working with some of the ocean's little-studied creatures, including cone snails. In 2017, the staff of his laboratory made several significant discoveries about the components of their poison, ultimately these discoveries can lead to new drugs designed to treat serious diseases. As these small calm creatures inject poison, scientists can also safely obtain excellent medicines.

Every day, Marie walks the rows of giant aquarium tanks at Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, South Carolina), testing 60 cone snails living in his laboratory for the past 15 years. Weekly, he and his colleagues engage in delicate negotiations to trade dead fish for the sake of a dose of poison drained into a tube for subsequent scientific research.

“Cone snails are so unusual. They don't really look alike creature on the planet, and working on them is almost as weird as working with aliens, but it's also fun. The cone system is like a candy store,” says Marie.

Over 800 species of cone snails have been found worldwide, mostly in the hotter tropical regions. They are hermits, faceless creatures and are not at all aggressive, but will be capable of defense if they are picked up by the next shell collector. The smallest snails sting, which is about as strong as a bee sting, but the sting is more large species capable of killing an adult human in a matter of hours. The most deadly cone snail is considered to be the "cigarette snail" of the Indo-Pacific region, a snail with a human thumb can inject a toxin so powerful that you only have time to smoke one cigarette and then die from the effects of the poison.

Despite the fact that his collection consists of several species, Special attention Marie gives a purple snail a cone (lat. Conus purpurascens). This snail is mainly found off the coast of the Eastern Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California down to Peru and around the shelf of the Galapagos Islands. It slowly moves along the rocky bottom, where it grows up to several centimeters in length. All snails of the genus Conus are nocturnal but can often be seen on beaches.

A photo. The snail expands its proboscis and releases venom into a latex tube.

Despite their slow movements, these snails have evolved to be able to attack much more mobile creatures in the dark, releasing one harpoon tooth at other fish, snails and worms. After the poison is injected, the victim is instantly immobilized and unable to hide. The snail then slowly draws the immobilized prey into its shell to digest it whole. After use, each tooth is discarded and immediately replaced by another. Some types of cone snails have 20 or so similar teeth ready to be used when the next potential prey swims by.

In its usual form, the poison of the cone snail will obviously not be an excellent cure for human ailments. But by unpacking it piece by piece and studying each component at the molecular level, Marie and his colleagues want to study and describe how each component of this toxin performs its function.

“We learn a lot about them,” says Marie.

For example, is the poison of the cone really capable of instantly appearing in nervous system another animal? And how does it paralyze the victim so effectively? Even more puzzling is that some individual purple cone snails are not poisonous at all, which Marie believes may be due to the developmental stages of these snails.

Cone snail clues can be used to get advanced medicines, which will move faster and much more efficiently through the patient's body, for example, new types of insulin to cure diabetes or improve the cure of certain neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. New discoveries of venom components may provide us with new drug delivery systems that will be aimed at reducing the development of rapidly progressive cancers. Some scientists plan to use the components of the poison to get rid of drug addiction. Even today, one of the components of cone snail venom is used in anti-wrinkle creams, using inflammation under the skin to bulge wrinkles and fine lines on people's faces.

Before writing an article published in the Journal of Proteomics (1), Marie and colleagues used cone snails as probes for molecular level to detect important overlap between the human central nervous and immune systems. Their study shows for the first time that this classic toxin, which normally targets the central nervous system, can also have a direct effect on the immune system. It has been found that once certain types of cone snail peptides, known as conotoxins, enter the body, certain living cells signal in a certain way. These new advances could help us develop new treatments for breast, stomach, and lung cancers, as well as improve the treatment of tuberculosis, since all of these diseases cause certain cells to multiply. To apply the toxin as a real drug, this study provided " road map» for a better understanding of the process of growth of unnecessary cells.

In another study recently published in the Journal of Proteomics (2), Marie and colleagues worked on isolating an enzyme from the cone snail venom called Conohyal-P1. They resorted to mass spectrometry using an ultra-high resolution spectrometer, which is one of the most powerful tools for counting and identifying proteins in a sample. A similar enzyme has been found in both lionfish venom and bee venom. Unusually, it is also present in the semen of many mammalian species as it helps to relax the cell walls of the ovaries and thus facilitate sperm delivery and successful reproduction.

"We knew that this enzyme could destroy extracellular tissue," says Marie, speaking of the outer membrane of cells. “But today we were able to carefully analyze the activity of this enzyme in order to use it in future research. Also, we have identified a new subtype that was previously unknown.”

In a third publication, published recently in the journal Neuropharmacology (3), Marie and colleagues analyzed cone venom toxins by testing the central nervous system response of fruit flies. Although fruit flies are largely different from humans, their central nervous system can be a good model for a variety of medical tests because the basic structure of fruit fly brain cells is similar in structure to human brain cells. So if a fly's brain cells respond in one direction, scientists know that human cells will respond in the same way.

A video that tells about the danger of a cone snail for a person, its ability to kill a person from one prick with a poisonous tooth

Marie's team specifically wanted to know how conotoxins interact at the molecular level with various targets in their victim's nervous system. Purple snail venom cone saturated large quantity blocks of such proteins, there are more than 2000 of them.

“Poison is incredibly complex. We wanted to get an answer to this question: what components of it can be used for medical purposes,” says Marie.

In this particular case, they found that the flies' response to doses of cone snail venom primarily took place in receptors that control muscle movement and addiction. These factors can be taken into account when creating advanced drugs for Parkinson's disease, in which the human musculoskeletal system is often disturbed, the ability of a person to control basic body movements is impaired. It may also help develop effective methods getting rid of nicotine addiction.

“The pattern on the cone shell is very beautiful. But I believe that biochemistry and biology are even more amazing, and by understanding the various facets of the toxin, we can open new doors in the field of medical use. In the end, we will be able to crack the code,” says Marie.

Recent cases of snail cone attacks
A tourism worker has been stung by a cone snail in Australia's Whitsunday archipelago.

In North Queensland, a crew member on a tour boat was stung by a cone snail, causing his respiratory system to malfunction.

At noon on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, a 25-year-old man was walking barefoot in the shallow water near Whitehaven Beach when a cone snail stabbed its harpoon into his skin.

Given the tide, it was only a small window for the man to be taken to the hospital. The pilot managed to land on a narrow strip of sand and the patient was transported by helicopter in an inflatable boat.

"If we had any delay in the helicopter, we would have to rethink our strategy, spend valuable time on this process," said a spokesman for the medical service.

The man was taken to McKay Hospital, where he remained in stable condition. In severe cases, in addition to pain, cone snail venom can cause muscle paralysis, blurred vision, respiratory failure, and death.

Few people know that over the past 90 years, 36 people have died because of a lowly killer, said University of Queensland chemistry professor David Kraik.

The cone snail has a proboscis that hangs like a bait to attract fish. At the end of the proboscis there is a hollow tooth through which poison is injected.

Regarding this particular case, Dr. Craik said that the poison blocked his nerve impulses that control the muscles associated with breathing.

"The lethal dose of venom for a 70-kilogram adult can be as low as 2 mg, so comparable toxicity is comparable to some snakes," he said.

Links to studies:
1. dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11586-2
2. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jprot.2017.05.002
3. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2017.09.020

The seas and oceans of our planet are inhabited by beautiful and amazing creatures - mollusks, striking in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. But often their beauty is not as harmless as it might seem at first glance. These "cute" creatures can pose a serious threat to human life. Poisonous mollusks belong to representatives of two classes: gastropods and cephalopods. Let's get to know them better.

Cones and terebrae - poisonous mollusks

Cones - gastropods are considered the most dangerous, as they contain a very dangerous poison - neurotoxin.

To date, scientists have more than four hundred of their species. They have a coiled shell of a conical shape, reaching a length of 10-11 centimeters. Their leg is long and narrow, and their siphon is thick and short. The underside of the leg has a cap.

Very often, cones have beautifully colored shells, usually in the form of a wavy pattern, occasionally in the form of a complex pattern (for example, “textile cone”). The shell has an inner surface of a bright orange color. Some of the species of cones are armed with a long, fleshy proboscis that extends far beyond their shell.

These poisonous gastropods at the end of the proboscis have several sharp teeth, which are arranged like a grater. At their base, just the poisonous glands are located.

The injection of "teeth" is accompanied by acute pain and numbness of the lesion. First, the bite site begins to turn pale, and then cyanosis appears.

This feeling of numbness often extends to the mouth and other parts of the body. In the most severe cases, it can be accompanied by fainting, spastic paralysis of the skeletal muscles, heart failure, etc. Some types of cones have a fatal injection.

The list of "The most poisonous mollusks" is headed by a geographic cone.

Many researchers describe cases when people stepped on poisonous cones or careless tourists during an excursion to the reefs took cone-shaped mollusks in their hands, and their proboscis dug into human flesh. Soon there were signs of poisoning, and some of the victims died before reaching the hospital.

Cones are common in the shallows of the seas and oceans tropical latitudes. Often found in Indian and Pacific Oceans, basins of the Red and caribbean, as well as many other places.

To date, there are no specific drugs that can neutralize cone venom. A treatment regimen designed to treat lesions of various poisonous fish. For removal pain, morphine preparations and other painkillers are introduced. And for the prevention of seizures, drugs such as magnesium sulfate, calcium gluconate, etc. are administered intravenously. If allergic reactions occur in the form of skin rashes, antihistamines are prescribed.

When providing the first emergency care on the spot, it is necessary to cut the skin at the site of the “bite”, suck out the poison. Above the lesion, a tourniquet must be applied for thirty minutes and placed in hot water with addition table salt affected place. Next, you need to make a novocaine blockade around the bite site.

To avoid such consequences, cone-shaped poisonous clams must be taken in such a way that their proboscis cannot reach your unprotected hand.

In addition to cones, the poisonous apparatus also has terebrae. Its shell is very similar to a curled high turret. In terebra, the poisonous apparatus has the same "device" as in cones. It can also be found on the shallows of tropical seas.

Therefore, when relaxing on the coast of the sea in the tropics, you need to be as careful as possible and try to avoid contact with these dangerous, albeit very beautiful creatures.

poisonous octopus

These interesting mollusks belong to a diverse family of cephalopods. The upper surface of their gray, sac-like body is “decorated” with warts. Octopuses also have eight tentacles with 2 rows of suckers in their arsenal.

Large round eyes, mouth with strong horny jaws, similar to the beak of a parrot. Octopuses are widely distributed in coastal waters of partially temperate, subtropical and tropical latitudes of all oceans.

Bites are a serious danger certain types octopuses - inhabitants of tropical seas.

Octopuses are not among the aggressive marine animals and generally do not harm humans unless provoked. But, if the meeting with the "blue-ringed" did happen, be extremely careful.

These dangerous poisonous mollusks are found in the oceans, and who knows how many more new species of these dangerous creatures will become known in the coming decades. Indeed, to date, the "water shell" of the earth has been studied by only 5%.

And if you want to learn more about poisonous blue-ringed octopus, then this article will tell you about it:

And with other, most interesting representatives various kinds shellfish, you will be introduced to these articles:

Cones are a peculiar family gastropods, widely known for its beauty and poisonousness. Representatives of this group are very diverse, in addition, new species are discovered annually, so that at present there are already 550 of them in the family.

Imperial cone (Conus imperialis).

Almost all types of cones are inhabitants of tropical seas. They live in the shallow waters of coral reefs in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. These animals are solitary, active mainly at night. Their sizes are not very large: the length of the shell in adults varies from 6 to 20 cm. But the color is incredibly beautiful. Although it is dominated by soft colors (black, gray, brown, yellow, white), they form fantastic patterns. In some species, the shells are dotted with dots, in others - with large spots ...

Saffron cone (Conus crocatus).

the third - lines ...

Oak cone (Conus quercinus).

in the fourth - a complex pattern.

Cone ammiralis (Conus ammiralis).

When you look at them, it seems as if someone made painted amphoras, bags, bowls, vases from these mollusks.

The shells of the hirasei cone (Conus hirasei) resemble ice cream cones.

Even cones with single-coloured shells look beautiful due to the smooth texture of the surface, reminiscent of porcelain.

Carrot cone (Conus daucus).

The names of some species testify to the complex pattern that adorns them: in the literary cone, the dots resemble letters in lines, in the textile cone - a pattern on the fabric, in the geographical cone - stains on the map.

Literary cone shells (Conus litteratus) stacked for sale.

The cones got their name because of the geometrically regular shape of the shell. Like all gastropods, in cones it twists in a spiral, but each curl lies almost on top of the previous one, so the top of the shell turns out to be blunt, almost flat. The hole in the shell is located on the side, and it is so elongated that it extends almost its entire length. The soft body of the mollusk hides inside; during movement, the wide leg protrudes through the side opening, and the head through a small hole in the narrow end of the shell. The anterior end of the body is crowned with several outgrowths at once. Two short stems carry tiny eyes, between them and a little higher is a hunting proboscis, similar to a long tube, and under the proboscis is a mouth. In the normal position, the mouth opening is difficult to notice, but when prey is swallowed, it is able to extend into a funnel-shaped tube and envelop very large prey.

Geographic cone (Conus geographus) with an elongated trapping proboscis, on the sides of which stalks with eyes are visible. On the sole of the mollusk, the pattern is the same as on the shell.

From this description it becomes clear that the cones are predators. Different types of these mollusks specialize in certain types of prey: some eat polychaete worms, others prefer small fish (especially often amphiprions become their victims), others prey on gastropods of other species. However, in cramped conditions, the cones may well have a bite to eat with their smaller counterpart.

The cones show each other their mouth funnels.

They find the victim by smell with the help of a special organ - osphradium. Having sensed the prey, the cone shows agility unexpected for such animals. He quickly crawls across the prey and aims his hunting proboscis at her. This is where the fun begins. The fact is that the cones, like all mollusks, have a radula - a kind of pharyngeal "grater" dotted with many teeth. But if other mollusks grind food with their teeth, then the cones use them differently.

Arrow-shaped tooth of a striped cone (Conus striatus), sticking out of a trapping tube.

Their teeth look like a pointed harpoon and are easily separated from the radula, the canal of the broken tooth is filled with toxin, and it falls into the hunting proboscis. The cone, like a native with a spear at the ready, sneaks up on the victim, aims at her a proboscis with a tooth clamped at the end and pricks her with a point. If the prey is very mobile (for example, fish), then it can be difficult to sneak up on it at the right distance, so the cone is often buried in the sand, leaving only the respiratory siphon and proboscis sticking out. As soon as a careless fish swims up to a hidden predator, he inflicts a mortal blow on it. Sometimes cones practice a different way of hunting. They crawl up to a small fish, open their mouth-funnel and ... the fish swims into it by itself! After that, the cone can only swallow the catch.